Allen Tucker abandoned a career as an architect and became an artist in 1904. His early paintings such as Madison Square, Snow are indebted to the tonal impressionist style of his teacher at the Art Students League, John H. Twachtman. Representations of small urban parks seen from an elevated vantage point were popular among French impressionists such as Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro. Their American counterparts Willard Metcalf, Ernest Lawson, and Childe Hassam all produced similar views of New York.

Located between Madison and Fifth Avenues and extending from 23rd to 26th Streets, Madison Square Park had become a major commercial and entertainment area. It was especially noted for Stanford White’s Madison Square Garden, a popular concert hall, amphitheater, and roof garden built in 1889. There were a number of other iconic modern structures in the area, such as Daniel H. Burnham’s famous Flatiron Building.

Tucker deliberately avoided any clearly recognizable view of Madison Square Park and its urban environs. Reflecting the growing influence of Robert Henri’s realism, his rendition instead emphasizes the dramatic encroachment of the city’s looming skyline on the park and is less anecdotal than the works of many of his impressionist contemporaries.